Assistant
by Queen of the Wild Frontier
Summary: When Kaiba loses Joey the best job he's ever had, Mokuba tries to make things right by installing Joey as Kaiba's new PA. Seto x Joey
1. Chapter 1

****Well, after babysitting a kid today and watching the YuGiOh movie with him, I remembered my love for this fandom :)

There's no abusive father/stepfather in this story cause, well that's been done to death hasn't it?

Rating for language I think, there may be some form of citrus at some point in the future.

I don't own anything at all, either :P

* * *

**Assistant  
**

_Now don't mess this up._

Joey looked at his somewhat morphed reflection in the shiny kitchen countertop. He looked ridiculous. Well, he thought so anyway. To tell the truth, he looked _smart. _He scrubbed up quite nicely actually. Thanks to a friend of his father's (an _old _friend of his father's) Joey had managed to land a job at one of the fanciest restaurants in town. Apparently one of the young waiters had been caught doing something _untoward _with the manager's daughter. He had lost his job soon after. It was hard to feel too sorry for him however, when it meant that Joey could have something more resembling a job than slave labour. And honestly, these were the best clothes he had ever worn. The fitted black slacks and tailored jacket contrasting sharply with the crisp white shirt made him look like a _somebody. _He certainly did not look like a street punk anymore. Or the poor son of a poor alcoholic father with a gambling problem. He had also been required to tame his hair, and it was now slicked back with enough gel to feed a small gel-eating army. He didn't look like _Joey _anymore. Joseph Wheeler had finally made something of himself. He had to remind himself he was just a waiter. But still, he looked pretty damn fancy! He must have been standing there for a good two minutes adjusting and readjusting his hair and uniform, before someone snapped him out of it.

"Oi Wheeler! You ready? Take these to table eight!"

"Gotcha!" Joey blinked a couple of times to focus himself and joined two other waiters balancing plates along their arms. He was immensely glad Yugi and the others had helped him to practice for this gig. Taking a deep steadying breath he followed his workmates through the swinging door into the restaurant itself. The dining area was enormous, and while there were many long tables ideal for large parties or business ventures, the walls were also lined with intimate booths and dotted across the hall were several cozy little tables for two. Table eight was _not _one such table. Towards the back of the restaurant, in what could only be described as the VIP Lounge, was a lengthy table that would not have looked out of place in a conference hall. Sitting around the table were a dozen stuffy-looking businessmen, and at the head of the table was the stuffiest businessman Joey knew.

Seto Kaiba.

_You gotta be kidding me. My very first day, too!_

Hurrying to deposit his plates and have this over with, Joey kept his head down and his eyes on anything but Kaiba. No doubt the jerk would just _love _this opportunity to put Joey down. All delusions of grandeur swiftly vanished as Joey imagined what Kaiba would say. How he was _serving _him like a dog. Placing a plate in front of Kaiba, Joey quickly braced himself for the guaranteed dog-related insult that was sure to come his way.

"Thanks."

It was terse and short, but it wasn't the verbal abuse that Joey was expecting. He looked up at Kaiba with a start and noticed the guy wasn't even looking at him. He had clearly not recognised him! Taking this opportunity, Joey slid away from the table and sped back to the kitchen. It was only when the door swung shut behind him that he let out a relieved sigh. He then proceeded to curse himself for feeling something akin to apprehension at seeing his self declared arch nemesis.

_Should go back there and show him just 'cause I'm serving him don't mean I'm beneath him!_

But before this thought could progress further into actual action,

"Wheeler, table fourteen!"

* * *

Almost two hours later and Joey was really in the swing of things, he had worked on his customer manner and was now less inclined to punch a man in the face for complaining. He had also tamed his accent somewhat, so he could fit in better in this new sophisticated environment. Unfortunately he had been too busy to get to know any of his colleagues, but he was sure that if he could just find a friend here things would be perfect. He had already amassed more money than he had ever had at any one time purely in tips! He was so buzzed that he didn't have the heart to feel down when he went to collect the dessert plates from table eight.

"Didn't expect to see you here, Mutt."

_Oh God no..._

Joey made the mistake of looking at Kaiba. He regretted it instantly. Seto Kaiba was wearing his trademark 'I'm-The-Richest-Man-In-The-Universe' smirk and it was aimed directly at Joey.

"Though I must say I didn't recognise you at first, I guess the dog had a bath for the occasion."

"Don't start, Kaiba. I'm working." Joey schooled his face into a neutral, passive expression as he cleared the plates away from the table.

"And here I was under the impression that you just _begged _for scraps in the street." Kaiba's smirk only grew wider as he noticed how Joey was reacting.

There was a heavy thump as Joey set the plates back down on the table none too gently. He narrowed his eyes and glared directly at Kaiba, not dropping his gaze until his eyes started to water.

"Shove it, Moneybags. We didn't all inherit multi billion dollar companies from our fathers."

Kaiba's smirk was affixed to his face so strongly it was as if someone had grabbed the superglue.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I was certain that staff are required to be _polite _to their customers. Or is 'polite' not in your vocabulary?"

Joey was very aware of the eyes on him, from the men around the table, to the other waiters trying to shove past him to clear the table. One of the smarter ones took the stack that Joey had thrown down, before he started throwing them _about. _

"I'm warning you, Kaiba. You're gonna lose me my job!"

At this, Kaiba laughed. The bastard actually _laughed! _" You're warning _me? _Please, Mutt. If I wanted to I could make sure you never worked again in your sorry excuse for a life."

"Damn it, Kaiba!" and with that, Joey launched himself at the ever smirking Seto Kaiba.

* * *

It's been a while.. how did I do? :)


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate it more than you realize!

Here we have chapter two, not really sure how this one came out.. I think it went okay though :)

I don't own anything used.

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**Assistant – Chapter Two**

It had not been pretty, to say the least. Joey had leapt with enough force to knock Kaiba – and his chair – backwards. They had both landed in an undignified and unsightly pile on the floor, with what felt like several hundred pairs of eyes on them. The worst part, perhaps was that Joey had only really managed to land one or two good punches before he was roughly pulled away by none other than his new boss!

"Wheeler! What on Earth did you-? Mr Kaiba, I don't know what to say! Are you alright?" The manager had been stumbling over his words, and juggling the need to wave his hands around frantically and hold on to the now limp Joey.

Kaiba had drawn himself up to his full imposing height and had stared directly down his nose at the manager and Joey in turn. He had straightened out his fight-crumpled business suit and folded his arms assertively across his wide chest. He had passed a furious eye over the manager.

"You have lost a _very _influential customer today. Do not think I will be back." He had then turned his attention to Joey, "And as for you, Wheeler. You are lucky I am not pressing charges. Yet." his voice had been tight and heavy with meaning. He had given Joey one last contemptuous look before turning on his heel and leaving the establishment. The executives around his table soon followed suit. After a few moments of soundless gaping, the manager had abruptly let go of Joey, who promptly crumpled to his knees.

"Oh God, I- I didn't mean-"

He was cut off however, by the scraping noise of many chairs being shifted away from their tables. It had been as if the restaurant was a giant classroom and the bell had just rung for spring break, except that instead of the cheerful calls of '_At last, I thought it'd never end!_' or '_When does the party start?_' there were the disgruntled groans of '_Seems the staff here are simply out of control._' and '_Just imagine what they've done to the food!_'.

Joey had hung his head in shame as the place gradually became empty. After the first few had left, more people wanted to be a part of the uproar, and the final handful of people had deemed it too awkward to be left behind, and promptly left.

"Get out."

Joey looked up from where he had been hanging his head in shame, into the defeated but suddenly bitter face of his boss. Well, he supposed, ex-boss.

"Sir, I-" Joey could not seem to articulate quite what it was he wanted to say, it didn't matter however, as the manager did not seem to want to listen to him even if he could have.

"Just leave. I'll be sending you the bill."

And this was how the best day of Joey Wheeler's life swiftly mutated into the newly appointed 'Son-of-a-Bitch-Mother-of-all-Fuckers' day of his life.

_Looks like Joseph Wheeler the Somebody has died one hell of a violent and bloody death._

* * *

It was not pretty, to say the least. Seto Kaiba had arrived home in such an obviously enraged manner that he was now having to explain to Mokuba exactly what had happened.

"So basically you lost one of my friends their job?"

Seto blanched. He hated that all Mokuba had to do was widen his eyes and stare at him in _just _the right way and he would automatically feel guilty. He soldiered on sullenly, however.

"_I _did not lose Wheeler his job, he managed that all by himself."

"You provoked him!" Mokuba pointed a small finger at him accusingly.

"I always provoke him! He should be used to that by now!" When Mokuba continued to glare, Seto saw he was not going to win this argument, and sank onto the plush sofa in defeat.

"Why though?" His younger brother said this with such a soft voice Seto wasn't sure that he'd spoken at all. Mokuba said nothing else however, not even a 'good night' before he left the room altogether.

Seto remained in that same spot for quite some time, arguing with himself furiously.

_He should have controlled himself._

_I should have controlled myself._

_It's his fault Mokuba's pissed at me._

_It's his fault I'm pissed at myself._

_It's his fault._

Having convinced himself that he was innocent, Seto stood, only for the nagging feeling of guilt to come rushing back. He knew for a fact that Wheeler was- how could he put it? Not well off on the money front. He also knew how hard it would be for the mutt to get another job with the ungodly references he was sure to now have. But it wasn't any of Seto's business was it? He wasn't going to purposefully seek Wheeler out and take all of his problems away, even if he could. And so with a slightly heavier heart than usual, Seto climbed the stairs towards his bedroom. Sleep cured everything as far as he was concerned tonight. You can imagine his dismay when sleep did not come at all that easily that night, all thanks to thoughts of a certain 'mutt'.

* * *

It wasn't pretty, to say the least. Joey stood awkwardly in the doorway of his piss poor apartment with his shoulders slumped and his head down.

"'Samatter, son?" His father grunted from his armchair by the television. When he got no reply he coughed raggedly and then tried again, "How'd that job work out for ya? You keep up and we'll hit paydirt soon, kid."

Joey didn't have the heart to bring his dad down any further; his father had already hit rock bottom six years ago and then proceeded to drink his way through it towards the centre of the earth.

"Uh yeah, it went fine Dad. Hard work, though. Dog tired." Joey managed a tight lipped smile, and made his way to his bedroom. As he passed he heard his dad's snort of 'Hard work, you kids don't know you're born.' He smiled softly as he remembered the days when his dad _had _been a hard worker, before he 'injured his back' doing something that was no doubt illegal, and had been laid up in front of the television ever since. This was around the time his mother left.

Family meant a lot to Joey, even though his own was so broken. If his father was too weak to face everyday life without a few beers in his gut, that just meant that Joey would have to be extra strong. They needed money, and Joey knew someone with more of it than should be humanely possible. He would just have to suck up his pride. For his family, he was sure he could do it.

He fell asleep dreaming up ways he might convince the gloomy CEO of KaibaCorp to make up for his misdeeds.

* * *

I know this isn't how his dad is usually portrayed. I hope it's still okay though :P


	3. Chapter 3

Well, here's chapter 3.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

It was official; KaibaCorp was the tallest building Joey had ever loitered around, and he had a master's degree in loitering. He looked upwards until his neck ached and still could just barely make out the pale morning sunlight glinting off of the topmost windows. As he strained himself further to try and see the enormous 'KC' emblazoned in bold letters above, he realized something. He was putting this off; he was _nervous._

_Well, nothing wrong with a few nerves before a big game._

Which was all this was, really. He'd sparred with Kaiba many times before, both verbally and physically. He steeled himself, checked in the window's reflection that he had his 'game face' on and strutted through the double doors with his shoulders squared. He was going to march on up the the CEO's office, get all up in Kaiba's face and convince the jerk to get him his job back!

It turned out to not be quite that simple.

"Do you have an appointment, Sir?"

Joey blinked at the woman sitting behind the desk. He supposed she was pretty, in a rather strict-teacher-older-woman kind of way. Her dark hair was pulled into a tight bun at the base of her neck and silver oval-rimmed glasses framed her narrow, stern eyes. When he looked closer, he saw her name tag read 'Eleanor'.

"Sir?" More insistently now.

This wasn't good. He needed to see Moneybags _now, _before he lost his nerve_._

"Yes." He cringed at how unconvincing he sounded.

The woman, Eleanor, smirked. "Are you sure? _Sir." _Somehow she managed to make the word 'sir' seem like a grand insult.

Hackles raised, Joey pulled his best poker face, "I'm his two-thirty."

"Of course, let me just check your identification Mr-?" Eleanor paused, a knowing glint in her eye as Joey squirmed.

"I left it in my limo?" The blonde groaned inwardly. He _so _should have seen this coming.

Eleanor _smiled, _and with a giggle that didn't really suit her, nodded her head through the glass entranceway to the broken down bike that Joey had arrived on. "_That _limo?"

Joey's despair must have shown on his face because Eleanor finally stopped laughing to give him a sympathetic look. She leaned forward in her seat and removed her glasses, looking like she was trying to make a difficult decision. Sighing softly she murmured,

"Look, Kid. You didn't hear this from me, but if you challenge Mr. Kaiba to a duel, there's a high chance he'll meet with you."

Joey perked up immediately at this, "For real?"

"Yes. Obviously it's not made public, he'd never get any work done otherwise. And it's not for definite, but there's a chance." Her expression changed to an uncomfortable one under Joey's bright gaze. "You wanna challenge him or not, Kid?" The annoyed tone was back in her voice now.

"Yeah! That's perfect!" Grinning from ear to ear, Joey reached into the back pocket of his jeans for his deck and began shuffling it eagerly.

Shaking her head almost _fondly, _Eleanor picked up her telephone and pressed the intercom button.

"Mr. Kaiba,"

There was a moment of silence before the unmistakable deep voice of Seto Kaiba came through the machine, "What is it?"

"There's a young man here to challenge you, Sir." At this she winked at Joey, "He looks quite determined."

More silence. Joey's grin faltering as he waited. Then,

"Send him through to the arena."

* * *

Even workaholic CEO's got bored from time to time. Seto was actually glad of the break that an easy duel would provide. Loosening his tie and blazer, he picked up the briefcase which contained his duel disk and left his office in a flurry of tailored fabric. His steps were brisk but purposeful as he made his way towards the duelling arena he had built for this very moment. The very best _deserved _the very best in Kaiba's opinion. Soon enough he approached the entrance he was seeking and pushed the doors open with considerably more drama than was necessary. His smirk that he had prepared to greet the lowly duellist who dared to challenge him turned instantly into a frown as he saw the blond teen lounging idly by some very expensive equipment.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Seto ground out, slightly uncomfortable being around Wheeler considering the circumstances of their last meet.

The boy stood up straight and pointed an accusing finger at Seto, "I'm here to settle the score, Moneybags!"

The brunet folded his arms as his frown deepened, "What do you mean, Mutt?"

"You lost me my job! It was a damn good job too!" Wheeler took a few deep breaths and appeared to be steeling himself for something, "We're going to duel now and if – no, _when _I win- you're gonna talk to my boss, tell him it was all your fault and get him to take me back!"

_I don't know if it's all that simple._

"And what's in it for me if I win?" Seto raised an eyebrow sceptically, this looked to be turning into a waste of time.

At this, Wheeler faltered slightly. He recovered soon enough, and with a hardened expression that didn't entirely suit his face, "If you win, I'll never challenge you again. I'll stop annoying you. I'll leave you alone."

_Well what else could the mutt offer to the man who has everything?_

"Well that's reason enough right there," Seto sneered. "Let's duel!"

* * *

"Are you satisfied now, Wheeler?"

Joey could just _hear _the smirk in Kaiba's voice. The blond had slumped to his knees following his most embarrassing defeat at the hands of Seto Kaiba.

"I think it's time you _left me alone_, isn't it?" Kaiba walked slowly towards the beaten duellist, his boots making steady thumping noises over the polished-to-a-gleam floor. When he was standing directly above him and still the boy did not rise, Kaiba toed him with his left boot. _That _got Joey up and moving again.

"Fine, I'm leaving! You don't have to degrade me any further, you damn jerk!"

Startled by the full force of emotion in Joey's voice, Kaiba murmured, "Why did you come here, Mutt?"

Joey looked at him angrily, "Huh? To get my job back of course."

"It was just a job. Hardly seems like something to humiliate yourself for. Or maybe you're just a glutton for punishment?" Kaiba's smirk was having trouble to keep from turning into a frown.

At this, Joey snorted. "Hardly. I need the money. The pay was good. Simple as that." He paused, thinking, "Oh, and they treated me like a _somebody."_

"A somebody?" Kaiba's face was completely neutral, but his eyes were staring intently at the blond.

"Y'know, like a human being. Which is more than what you do!" And with that, Joey left the arena. He did his best to ignore Eleanor's questioning look as he passed.

Kaiba was left standing alone in the arena that suddenly seemed too vast and empty. Two feelings he had not acknowledged for an incredibly long time seemed to bubble to the surface; guilt and loneliness.


End file.
